The Finality of the Apostles #1

Welcome to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, Founding Pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello, I'm Bill Wright. Thanks for joining us as we continue teaching God's people God's Word. Don begins a new message today, so without further delay, let's join him right now in the Truth Pulpit. As always, it's a privilege to come together to open the written Word of God and to be instructed by His Spirit through the proclamation of His Holy Word in the 66 books of the Bible. As you know, we are in the middle of a series titled How to Know the Bible is True, which has a lot of related questions to it, including how do we know that the Bible is sufficient? How do we know that the Bible is final?

And those are very, very important questions. If you think about it, the reality of our salvation depends upon knowing the answer to this question. If the Bible is final and complete, as it is, then we can go and study the Scriptures and see what the true gospel is. We can find what Scripture says about receiving and resting in Christ and having an assurance of our salvation and know that it's settled. You know, Scripture says, forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven. And we can know that these things are settled as we study and take to heart what God has said in His Word. And we kind of, and rightly so, as Bible-believing Christians, you come to a point where you take that for granted, and you just assume that to be the case.

But I want to engage in a little bit of contrary-to-fact reasoning with you. Suppose for a moment that the Bible was not complete, that the Bible was not sufficient, that the Bible was not finished, that there is opportunity for more to be said about these matters after the finished work of the apostles. All of a sudden, beloved, whether you realize it or not, all of a sudden, everything that you base your eternal hope on has been shattered and is thrown up for grabs. Because if it can be added to by subsequent revelation, if things can be expanded upon, then the opportunity is there to contradict what Scripture says in a settled way. So that, for example, when John says in 1 John 5, 13, I've written these things so that you may know that you have eternal life, all of a sudden, if there's more to be said about it, then you can't know based on what's been said. And as new authority is introduced, as many religions so-called try to do, and new doctrines are introduced that undermine assurance, that add conditions to salvation, that add new books of authority, then all of a sudden, you can't look to Scripture as a final sufficient guide for the state of your soul and for the truth of God. As soon as something is added, you have to go and see what the last word is, what the latest word is, what the latest so-called apostle says, what the latest so-called book of revelation is. Everything about basic fundamental Christianity is undermined as soon as you violate soul of Scripture and open it up to other authorities, other books that speak and tell us what we must believe, what we must do, what God has commanded.

And so this is a watershed issue. This is worthy of the time that we are putting into it, and I'm grateful to have so many of you here willing and desiring to hear these things. And the apostle Paul in the book of Romans talks about how he wanted to go to Rome, and one of the things that he said, I want to be there so that we can be encouraged by each other's faith. You by my faith, I by being encouraged by yours.

There was a mutuality to it. Here the great apostle is saying to these so-called common ordinary Christians, some of whom were just slaves and servants in Caesar's household, he said, you have something to give to me, he says to those first century forgotten Christians. He said, and I want to spend time with you, I want to be alongside you because I know that I will be encouraged by having been in your midst. The apostle Paul saying that to Christians like you and me, it's just a remarkable dynamic to see, and it's a complete contradiction of the way that things operate with the pope. With the pope you apply, and the pope gives you an audience. You get to spend time with the pope, and you're the privileged one to be in his presence.

Well, the apostle Paul saw it completely differently. With the apostle Paul, he said, I want to be with you because I know that you're going to be an encouragement to me just as much as I am to you. I'm no apostle, and thankfully so, and never will be, but I just want you to know, beloved, that as we gather together, especially here this evening, that as we gather together, that your faith and your desire for the word of God that brings you here tonight is an encouragement to me.

It's a help to me. It's a blessing to me, and as much as you need the word of God and the preaching of the word of God, you need to know that there's a reality that a pastor and an elder receives encouragement from your kindness, your faith, your desire to know the word of God, hearing your experiences of your walk with Christ. There's a sweet mutuality about it that makes this, as it were, we speak as equal levels, as equal Christians, and we share in this together.

It's not a top-down exercise of authority when true Christians gather together. We're encouraged by each other's faith, and I trust and hope that as the word of God is taught here that you find encouragement and blessing in it, but I want you to know that there's blessing that goes both ways. This finality of Scripture is a watershed issue, and the fact that we've been teaching on this for several weeks and that you're still here wanting to hear more is a great blessing to my heart, and I've been very encouraged by the many, many, many of you that have told me how glad you are that we're doing this. It means a lot to me, and having heard from some of you that watch over the live stream, it's the same way for all of you. It's just so important, beloved.

Everything depends on, everything flows from this very issue that we're talking about. You know, it's on this issue that men of old were willing to stand against bishops and cardinals and popes that threatened, said, we will kill you unless you recant, and by their lives and by their lips they said, you will have to kill me because I will not recant. They were able to show that kind of courage. They were able to prefer death over life because this is such a fundamental issue, and we are in the blessed position that we are in, and I'll try to keep my emotions under control here tonight. It might not be easy for me, but we are in the blessed position that we are in because, first of all, the Lord Jesus Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us fundamentally, and everything flows from that.

Providentially, God has delivered it to us generation by generation through men who loved His truth more than they loved life itself, men who shed their blood for this, men who lost family over it, men who lost children over it, people who have lost livelihoods and their homes and their properties, all because they would not yield on this very issue of which we are speaking here today. And, beloved, what I want you to understand is that the courage to live like that, the conviction that leads to that kind of transcendent courage that testifies across generations, the convictions that lead to that kind of courage start on this very issue that we are addressing right here. And I want you to be strong and courageous Christians.

I want you to be unafraid about what the future holds. I want you to have a confidence that your sins are truly forgiven, that you can trust Christ to carry you safely home. And the only way that we have that hope and confidence is to know that this word, which we open week by week, that this word cannot be violated because it is God's word. God is a God of truth. He cannot lie.

His promises are reliable. And we know that, and we find assurance in that when we are confident in the final authority of Scripture. And so, as we said, we know that the Bible is true because of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ affirmed the Old Testament in every conceivable way, and he laid the foundation for the New Testament and prepared for its coming by appointing apostles who would be the agents of revelation of his truth, and by promising to send to them the Holy Spirit who would guide them in their teaching and their writing and sovereignly use their human personalities, their human language, their human background, their human experiences in a way that they would be the vessels in which God expresses his very word and preserved it for all time in their writings.

And so that's just very, very important. So, we've looked at the apostles. Last time, on Sunday, we looked at the qualifications of the apostles, and now we're kind of pivoting into tonight's message. And one of the things that we said about the qualifications, this is so important, is that the nature of the qualifications for an apostle, they had to be with Jesus during his earthly ministry, they had to have seen the resurrected Christ, and they had to be chosen directly by him, personally, directly by him, are such that there can be no apostles today. There is no apostolic succession. There is no transference of apostolic credentials. They were unique to those men alone, and those things are not something that was transmitted from person to person.

You're going to see that. On the front end, on the front end of things, there are these qualifications without which no man could be an apostle. And those qualifications ended. Those qualifications are no longer possible to be met because it depended upon seeing the resurrected Christ. The resurrected Christ is now in heaven, where men cannot put eye on him. And so it is impossible for a man to be an apostle today. There is no such thing as a true apostle of Jesus Christ today because the qualifications cannot be repeated. The essential, non-negotiable qualifications to be an apostle ended in the first century. In fact, it ended with the ascension of Christ. Now, that's on the front end of things.

The qualifications are impossible to repeat. What we're going to see tonight in this message titled, The Finality of the Apostles, if you want to write something on the top of your notes, The Finality of the Apostles, what we're going to see is that on the back end of things, on the front end, you have the qualifications to enter into the apostolic office. On the back end, what we're going to find is that Scripture closes the door so that there's no possibility of others.

On the front end, the qualifications exclude anybody. And on the back end, what Scripture says about the apostles means that there cannot be a numerical addition to apostles following the passing of the Twelve. You see, beloved, and this is fundamental, and even if it isn't immediately apparent to you, I assure you that what we're talking about is integral to everything about the Christian faith and the protection of the Christian faith. Jesus gave to his twelve apostles and Paul, he gave them a unique role upon which everything else is built. They had a unique role. And what we're going to do tonight is pull several threads together to show that the apostles had exclusive authority which would never be shared with anyone else. They were unique.

In one sense, they were Christians just like us, but Christ gave them an office that was exclusive to them and not shared with others so that there is a distinction between the apostles and everyone else by the choice and the assignment of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in our spiritually weak and deficient age, not simply in the world but also in what passes for the evangelical church, people are not generally patient enough to think through the significance of these things. And it is important for us not to yield to that impatient, short-sighted spirit, but rather to develop these things so that they are settled in our minds. You and I, we must be different. Truth Community Church has to be different and distinct from that. And we don't mind being different. You know, if I can say it this way, and I don't mean it to be nearly as derogatory as it's going to come out and sound.

You know, it's easy, beloved. Churches that offer you a certain kind of music and all kinds of age-specific programs and create a false sense of excitement that are tended by lots and lots of people, the truth of the matter is, beloved, churches like that are a dime a dozen. They really are a dime a dozen. You can find one on 75 in Northern Kentucky.

You can find one up on the 32 here in Ohio. You can find those kinds of churches anyplace. We're not trying to be like them.

We're not trying to compete with programs and all of that. We just want to be faithful to the Word of God because we believe that's where the power is. We believe that that's where the blessing is. That's what we love and that's what we give ourselves to. Other people can do those other things. That's between them and the Lord. We don't mind being different here. We have to be different.

We have to be faithful to what's been given to us. We have to be acquainted with the truth for which men have died throughout the centuries. I just read a book. I don't recommend it per se, but I read a book recently titled Bloody Mary's Martyrs by a British author named Jasper Ridley. He tells the story of the five-year reign of Queen Mary in England and how so many Protestant martyrs suffered under her reign. They suffered because they would not confess that there was a real presence of Christ in the mass, and they would not confess that the pope was the vicar of the church. And for that, because Mary was a Catholic, she executed in the most horrific ways people who objected to that and were faithful to the things that we now hold dear in this age.

Well, beloved, I don't know about you, but I read things like that, and I see the awful way that both men of standing in society and the way that the most humble and aged of people suffered under that brutal reign of hers. For the very things that we believe, well, I feel a great responsibility to do what I can to defend those things and to honor Christ in the teaching of them and in a lesser secondary way to honor the legacy, the human legacy that's been given to us by men who loved the truth more than they loved life itself. And we develop those convictions by understanding these things at a deep and a profound level. So, yes, we have to be different, and we don't do 20-minute messages here.

We don't try to make people laugh here. We just want to hold the truth out and let God use it in your hearts as he sees fit. And as you read Scripture, you see that we're constantly called to this kind of diligence and this kind of discernment. In 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 21, for example, it says, Test everything, hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil. That's 1 Thessalonians 5, 21 to 22.

And so as we test the Scriptures' claim to be the Word of God, we are examining it carefully and looking to abstain from every form of evil that would dilute or contradict the claim of Scripture to be the exclusive authority over the minds and consciences of the people of God. So we've considered the qualifications to be an apostle. They were personally chosen by Jesus. They were eyewitnesses of the resurrection. They were accompanied by signs and wonders. And the signs attested them as true messengers of God.

And that followed the biblical pattern that was established over the prior 1,500 years when there was not a complete canon. You remember how Moses went before Pharaoh and performed signs and wonders before Pharaoh that vindicated him as a true messenger of God. And skipping over many things that we could consider, you look at the ministries of the prophets, Elijah and Elisha, and they did remarkable signs that showed that they were true spokesmen for God. Miracles attested to the words of Moses, the Old Testament prophets. Miracles attested to Jesus Christ. He said, if you don't believe my words, believe on account of the works that I do. And miracles attested to the apostles.

We saw that on Sunday. Now, however, that the New Testament has been completed and we're able to study it in light of the fullness of God's revelation, we find something very interesting. We find that the completed New Testament changes the pattern in the church now that the apostles have passed away. We no longer look for signs and wonders, rather we look to the apostolic writings to be the test by which truth is ascertained.

And, beloved, I'll just say this in passing. It is not about an office per se that is being, that is supposedly transferred from generation to generation. You know, the apostolic office and then it's delegated to someone else in the next generation and the office passes down through generations. Beloved, if you think about it, you realize not only is that not testified to in the word of God, you know, if that was the way that authority was going to be established, you would expect to find something really thorough and clear about it in the New Testament that would anticipate that kind of development, just like Christ anticipated the development of the New Testament canon by the promise of the Holy Spirit. If that was going to be, if an apostolic succession was going to be the way that authority was established in the church, surely there would be something in the word of God to show us how to measure that and to test it by. The absence of anything like that in the scripture tells us that that's not the way that Christ intended it to be.

It can't be about an office because, beloved, the office would only be as good as the man who holds it. And if you have a corrupt man in the office, the office can't redeem it. You know, one of the things, you know, in the early years surrounding the Reformation, there were priests that didn't even know the alphabet, let alone be able to read, let alone to be able to talk about scripture in an intelligent way. But they had this office that had been established by, you know, a church hierarchy. Well, that didn't make them men of God.

That didn't make them, that just gave them vestments and garments and pointy hats to wear as these blind men led other blind men into the pit. The office did no good because it wasn't rooted in truth and it wasn't the pattern that Christ had established for the church. How can we know for sure about the finality of the apostles?

That's what I want to lead you through now. Story number one, the finality of the apostles. We clench all of this as we see the finality of the apostolic office.

And beloved, sometimes I like to make it as plain and basic and simple as I possibly can and to say it in ways that seem very elementary but that convey truth in a way that's easy to remember. If you have the ability to count to 12, you can know for certain that there are no more apostles today. Can you count to 12? If you can count to 12, you can know that there are no more apostles today. And by that simple clarity of principle in your mind enables you to decisively reject any claims to new revelation since the passing of the apostolic era in the first century. You can count to 12, you can know what Scripture teaches about this. Look at Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19.

We'll start in verse 23 just to pick up the context. Jesus had just sent away the rich young man. He told him, if you want to follow me, you need to go, sell what you possess and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven, come follow me. Verse 22, the young man heard that, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.

He wasn't willing to give everything up for the sake of Christ. And when he had departed in verse 23, Jesus said to his disciples, truly, truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. There's something narrow about entrance into the kingdom of God. And the disciples, verse 25, when they heard this, they were greatly astonished saying, who then can be saved?

Lord, in light of what you're saying, it seems like salvation is narrow and difficult to find. Which is exactly what Jesus said in Matthew chapter seven. Incidentally, verse 26, Jesus looked at them and said, with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. And then Peter said in reply, contrasting himself and the others with the rich young ruler who just walked away, Peter said in reply, see, we have left everything and followed you.

What then will we have? And Jesus said to him, here it is in verse 28, truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the son of man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. He's telling the apostles, he says, you that have followed me will have 12 thrones for you in the coming kingdom. And on those 12 thrones, you will sit and judge the 12 tribes of Israel.

There's a perfect symmetry here. There are 12 tribes of Israel in the Old Testament. Jesus has 12 thrones for 12 apostles, from which thrones the 12 tribes of Israel will be judged. There's a one-to-one correspondence, 12 thrones for 12 apostles.

There's not room for more apostles or more men with apostolic credentials in subsequent generations. The number is fixed. The number is fixed. There's not going to be 30, 40, 50 people sitting on each of those 12 thrones. There's one man for one throne, 12.

Count to 12, and it's over. A set number. The only addition that Scripture makes a clear separation for is the apostle to the Gentiles, the apostle Paul. Twelve apostles appointed by Christ, Paul appointed by Christ, and that's it.

Now, there's another aspect to this. If you look over at the book of Ephesians chapter 2... Ephesians chapter 2, we'll start in verse 17 just for the sake of some context about the glorious ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. He came and preached peace to you, verse 17, who were far off in peace to those who were near.

The Gentiles who were outside the covenants of the Old Testament, the Jews who were near. Verse 18, for through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. Jews and Gentiles alike have access to God through Christ in the Holy Spirit, and it's all through him.

It's all funneled through one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. So as Paul writes, he goes on and says in verse 19, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. He's writing to a Gentile audience, and says you're on equal standing with the Jews now because of the work of Christ. Verse 20, here's the key. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Christ appointed the apostles to lay the foundation for the church. Now, you know that I'm not in construction. You know that I don't swing a hammer. You know that I don't know anything about construction.

But I know enough to say this. A building only has one foundation. You lay the foundation, and it is final and unique, and everything is built up on top of that foundation that has been laid. The apostles are, and the written legacy of the apostles is the foundation upon which the church is built. You cannot lay a second foundation for the same building. The foundation is final.

It is unique. Everything else stands upon it. And so in like manner, the apostles, the ministry of the apostles is the foundation upon which everything else is built. If you turn to John 17 for just a moment, John chapter 17, in his high priestly prayer, Jesus is praying for his immediate disciples, praying that the Father would keep them. It's a very remarkable prayer to contemplate. Jesus is about to go to the cross, and he's going to bear the wrath of God on behalf of those who would believe in him. And he's committing his immediate disciples to the Father's care so that they would not be lost, they would not be perished while Jesus is doing the work of redemption on the cross.

And so in his great love for the disciples, in his great trust and submission to God the Father, he prays this. He says, Verse 15, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself. He set himself apart for the work of the cross, that they also may be sanctified in truth. Now look at this.

I've pointed this out in the past. He says, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. Jesus says, I'm not just asking for this immediate, for this immediate group of disciples that are here with me on earth right now as I pray.

Father, I look into the distant future. I look into the future of the development of the church. And I pray, I pray for also, for all those who would believe through their word, the word of the apostles, the teaching of the apostles. And when we, when we see that, we realize that Christ prayed even for us at that time, because who are we that are Christians, except those who have believed in Christ through the word of the apostles? Christ prayed for us, and the us is defined by those who believe in Christ through the word, the word of the apostles, not through others, through their word, through the ones who are, for whom I am praying, who have been with me, who have been with me in my ministry, who I will send out after the resurrection to testify on my behalf.

For them and through their word. There's not room for new revelation in that, in those considerations, beloved. The apostle Paul asserts the same principle in a different way. The finality of the apostles is the point that we are making here.

We see that there are 12 and only 12. We see that there's a foundation upon which, you know, the building has one foundation. We see that Christ prayed for those who would believe through the word of the apostles, which reminds us of 1 John 4.6 that I'll allude to at the end of the message. The apostle Paul asserts the same principle in a different way in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15. We're used to going to this passage for its summary statement, its synopsis of the gospel message, for its teaching on the resurrection later in the chapter. In verse 3, Paul says, I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

Now, just stop there, beloved. This is outside my intended point here. But notice that twice, twice in those two verses in this famous summary passage about the true gospel, Paul points to the scriptures as that where the gospel is taught. If we were to add lots of new things to the scriptures after the passing of the apostles, this statement would be so diluted that it would be meaningless because at that point you can no longer say believe in Christ according to the scriptures. You have to tell someone believe in Christ according to the scriptures and this other stuff and what the church has said and what the charismatic prophet has said and what Joseph Smith has said. You see, you see, you violate, you take a dagger and you plunge it into the heart of what Paul says about the gospel when you violate the finality of scripture.

And he says it twice. Apparently it's important that this is according to the scriptures. You know, if I understood nothing else, if I understood nothing else about scripture than this, it would be enough to frighten me into complete silence in trying to suggest that there was anything else to add to the Word of God. It's for a lack of reverence of scripture that people try to add to it. But scripture, listen, think about it this way, scripture, the Word of God, certainly does not teach people to disregard the Word of God. Some other spirit is injecting that. It's not the Spirit of God that is leading people away from the Word of God that the Spirit of God himself inspired.

It's doctrines of demons. That's Don Green here on The Truth Pulpit. And here's Don again with some closing thoughts. Well, my friend, before we go after today's broadcast, I just want to invite you to look me up on Facebook, Don Green on Facebook.

I often make original posts. I make comments about ministry and other matters of biblical importance there that do not make their way into this broadcast. And so if you are on Facebook, I invite you to join me. Look for Don Green and join us on Facebook for another way to connect with our ministry. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Join us next time for more as we continue teaching God's people God's Word.